Catch of the Day Birthday

Hello again and a Thankful Thursday to you! My area has dodged the Hurricane Laura bullet! Thank you for your prayers and thoughts! Please join me in praying for the Beaumont, TX and Lake Charles, Lousiana peeps who ended up getting the direct hit, as well as everyone who will encounter Laura as she moves inland.

So, onto my card...

Made this for a family friend, he and his wife live on a large lake in East Texas. Lake Livingston. You literally cannot see the other side of the shore it's so big, which is why I created the scene that way. I used images and Catch of the Day sentiment from 2 Hero Arts sets, Lake Time Fun and Pier at the Lake. And a Sweet Stamp Shop sentiment Happy Birthday to You! No sketch this time, just an inked background using Distress inks and a couple of MFT stencils for the clouds and for the grass in foregound.

I usually don't make A2 birthday cards anymore, but what goes around comes around. When the stamped images are small enough, it's a nice shape. I sent his wife an A2 sized card back in March, so I decided to do the same for him. I could literally sit and do these kinds of cards all day long. Maybe I should, LOL.

I masked off a horizon line and inked the water first using blending brushes. Then I heavily inked the horizon and after letting dry masked it off below the line and used a clouds stencil for the sky. Then I stamped the bullrushes and the grass using 2 different green ink shades. Then the silhouette of the boat stamped in black, as well the sentiments. I finished it off with my Carbon Fountain Pen making some doodle squiggles below the boat and the fish.

Before adding the doodling, I poured clear embossing powder over the entire card mat and to my surprise the Clair ink had remained wet enough to grab the powder, so the sentiments, boat and grasses are all heat embossed. Even some of the horizon line! Just got a wild hair to do it. It's hard to capture it in the photos, but it looks a lot cooler in real life. I kept things simple by just adhering the inked up card front to my card base after inking the edges a bit.

For the inside, super simple. An HOTP sentiment stamped in Paradise Blue.

And the back of the card, even simpler lol. A Clear Dollar siggie stamp. It's a guy card so easy to get away with simple. Plus, I did work pretty hard on the front!

Couldn't tell you the Distress blue ink colors I used now (maybe Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean, Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers, Blueprint Sketch, Stormy Sky and Iced Spruce). I just grabbed several and got lost in ink-blending them soon enough, but I love how the mix of the colors change depth and hue in different light and angles. Not bad for first-time play. The stencils are new as is both Hero Arts stamp sets.

Thanks for dropping by. Hope you enjoyed checking out my card. Have a great rest of the week and stay well and safe! XXO

Papers: Recollections and Springhill card stocks
Images/Stamps: Hero Arts, Sweet Stamp Shop, Hot Off the Press, Clear Dollar
Inks: Printer, VersafineClair, TH Distress
Other: Clear embossing powder, Carbon Fountain Pen, MFT Clouds and Grassy Edges Stencils

MY CHALLENGE PLAYLIST:
1.  Stay Crafty with Hero Challenge #13: Creativebug Inspiration -- I sampled the videos and was inspired to do some water-reactive ink blending play with stencils to create my own background scene, plus I used Hero Arts stamp sets Laketime Fun and Pier at the Lake.

2.  AAA Birthday Challenge Game #16: Tic-Tac-Toe -- I chose top row across (bright colors, heat embossing, masculine card).

3.  Use Your Stuff #404: Mood Board -- I was inspired by the body of water in background, all the blue hues and the green.

4.  Artistic Stamper August Challenge: AG

4.  Aud Sentiments #258: Sentiment + AG

5.  Crafty Creations #412: AAG

6.  More Mixed Media August: AG + Opt. Brights -- I've played option

7.  The Male Room #141: Birthday  

8.  Paper Girls #206: Emboss Like a Boss -- I've used heat embossing

9.  Outlawz Saturday Paper A La Mode 8/15-8/28: Nautical Theme

10.  NBUS Challenge #17: AG w/Never-Before-Used-SCHTUFF  --  I'm using my Hero Arts stamps sets and my MFT Cloud and Grassy Edges stencils for the first time here. :-)